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Thursday, December 22, 2011

The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn

Coming soon to the blog are reviews of some very notable films over the next couple of weeks; the final part of my roundup of DC Comics' New 52 initiative and a look back at 2011 in film and, perhaps (I haven't decided yet) in comics. For now though, here are some thoughts on Spielberg's eagerly anticipated Tintin adaptation. Also at Channel24

What it's about

Tintin, a young
investigative journalist sets off on an adventure to find a sunken
ship and the treasure that went down with it.

What we thought

The ingredients
for a top notch Tintin movie are all very much in place. Produced by
Peter Jackson, directed by Stephen Spielberg and written by some of
the hottest new British screenwriting talent around in Joe Cornish
(Attack the Block), Steven Moffat (Dr Who) and Edgar Wright (Shaun of
the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs the World), it has more A-grade talent
behind it than any other film this year. Add to that a very
impressive group of motion-capture (sorry sorry, performance-capture)
actors - including Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, Toby Jones, Cary Elwes,
Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and, the king of mo-cap himself, Andy Serkis -
and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn should be one
of this year's most spectacular blockbusters.

Oh, if only...

It's true, with
that level of talent involved, there was no way that the film could
possibly be anything less than a proficient piece of cinema but the
truly shocking thing about this long-awaited adaptation is that it's
not a whole lot more than that. In a year when films like Super 8 and
Real Steel have served as constant reminders of just how incredible
Steven Spielberg is at his best, it's disheartening to see the man
himself deliver a film that has so little of that same magic.

Of course, at
first sight Tintin does look like vintage Spielberg. It's a
full-blooded adventure film that harkens back to the glory days of
the earlier Indiana Jones films, and his ability to direct a frantic
action scene with both flare and clarity is as alive and well as
ever. Plus, this being an animated film, he even gets to try out new
tricks that makes magnificent use of the form – it's almost worth
watching the film just for the creative ways in which he transitions
between different locations and from present to past.

Dig just a little
bit deeper though and the film's many problems become readily
apparent. Using three entirely different Tintin adventures on which
to base the film might have been a necessary move (though Herge's
comics do strike me as far more dense than their American
counterparts) but the result is something of a narrative mess. There
is so much plot that Spielberg has trouble letting the film breathe
as it lurches from action set piece to expository info dumps, never
allowing the viewer a chance to truly connect with what's going on on
screen. The script too never comes close to reflecting any of these
writers at their best either, coming in short on both innovation and
wit.

Perhaps the
biggest problem, though, is Tintin himself. Jamie Bell is a very fine
actor and he does his best with what is in the end a rather thankless
role. As has been pointed out by far more knowledgeable Herge fans
than I, in the original comics, Tintin was always meant to be
something of a cypher – rather than being much of a character, he
was instead there as a blank canvas on which the reader could
effectively project themselves. Even visually, aside for his
signature haircut, Tintin's face has none of the expressiveness or
character of his many supporting players. This works great on paper
but on screen, Tintin comes across as a bit of a bore – and a
rather smug one at that.

And then there is
the issue of the film's animation. It's certainly true that the art
design and background animation is pretty spectacular but the
characters themselves – especially, once again, Tintin – suffer
from something that has yet to be sorted out with mo-cap animation:
in an attempt to make these characters look like flesh and blood,
they create something truly grotesque by never quite getting there.
It's called the uncanny valley (Google it) and it undermines all the
great work that Spielberg and the team at WETA Digital have done with
the rest of the film.

In a way, this is
pretty symptomatic of what is wrong with the film. By coming so close
to reaching greatness and yet crucially failing to ever reach it, The
Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn becomes more and more
disappointing as it progresses. Despite the obvious good intentions
and effort put into it, this is middling Spielberg: perfectly
watchable, even enjoyable, but ultimately empty and forgettable.

About This Blog and Its Author

My name is Ilan Preskovsky and I've been working as a journalist/ writer/ critic for the past six (?!) years. When I'm not writing feature articles for Jewish Life Magazine or trying to scrounge up work like every other poor freelancer, I like to write about movies - and, indeed, sometimes even watch them. I write about them both professionally, as a critic for Channel 24, and as an amateur enthusiast for this site. I also love comic books, music, novels, certain non-fiction books and TV and I may even write about them from time to time.

This here blog (named with all the swagger and bubbly self-confidence for which I am barely known) is simply a collection of my various writings, both professional and amateur, and therefore should be taken as the opinions of one man and one man only. This man, of course, in case you were wondering, is a middle class, South African, (Modern) Orthodox Jew with a rather unhealthy love for pop culture and passionate, humanist writing. But, hey, isn't everyone?

Because Everybody Else Has One is consistently inconsistently updated and is no doubt full of errors when not edited properly, but do feel free to leave comments, both about specific posts and the site in general, and let me know what you think. Agree? Disagree? Want to burn my house down with me in it (I'm looking at you Underworld fans)? Bring it on. Bring it all on.